Emotions Archives - Dena Robertson

Have you ever wondered what causes disease? I hadn’t.

I remember when I got sick for the first time. It was quite a shock. I had thought I was invincible and that my body would work perfectly for ever. It never occurred to me that this wouldn’t be the case. I had watched other people in my life being sick but had never thought to question why, or whether I might one day find myself in the same boat.

My initial reaction was outrage. And then fear. What was happening? And my life was so busy that I really didn’t have time to do anything about it. Maybe if I just ate some vegetables, it would all go back to normal? Unfortunately, my stomach pain continued and eventually I had no choice but to go to the doctor. After a load of tests (and inconvenience) it turns out that there was nothing wrong with me. But the pain continued … so now what? I had no idea how to stop the pain or, more importantly, what was causing it so that I could stop it happening again.

Sound familiar?

So, my doctor told me he could give me a tablet to help me relax, and that would help my stomach, but that I could only take it on a Friday evening … with no other explanation than that. It sounded weird … but ok. I said I’d give it a go.

I dutifully did as the doctor said (well, we do, don’t we?) and the next morning I woke up after 13 hours sleep, so dopey that I could hardly think. I dragged myself down the road to the shops to get some food, staggered home and went back to bed. I woke again at 10pm, had some water, and then slept again for another 12 hours. By the Monday morning I was just about able to function well enough to go back to work.

This experience scared the hell out of me. I never again wanted to take anything that did to me what that tiny pill had done … regardless of any supposed benefit to my health. It turns out that this was an early version of antidepressant medication, which was regularly being prescribed in Germany, where I was living at the time. Scary stuff.

The only option I had was to try and find out for myself why I had developed stomach pains. Forty years ago, there was no internet and so it wasn’t easy, but with the help of a homeopath who prescribed Bach Flower remedies and who suggested some good reading material, I started to understand how it was stress that was the cause … and that I could do something about it!

I wonder if you’re in a similar situation? Officially, there’s nothing wrong with you but you don’t feel like yourself at the moment?

This started me on a journey of discovery and, a few years later, when I started studying acupuncture, I was amazed to discover that for thousands of years imploding emotions have been known to be a cause of disease … so I wasn’t mad after all!! There was a form of medicine “out there” which confirmed to me that the body works the way I intuitively felt it did!

Does this resonate with you? Are you sick and tired of feeling sick and tired (sorry for the cliché) with no idea what to do? Well, there are more causes of disease that I can tell you about and I’ll write more about them next time. If you’re intrigued and curious to know more, please do let me know.

Let’s get you back to living life feeling well.

This article forms part of the series (At My) Wit’s End Wisdom.

I was recently invited to be a guest on a podcast entitled

“Healing Vibrations – Changing the perspective of illness – To see it as a gift!”

and it got me thinking about how we are conditioned to view illness as something to be battled against. We take medication to suppress our symptoms and struggle on regardless in the hope that, if we ignore them, they will go away. And, of course, they often don’t.

What if we changed our perspective? What if we viewed our bodies with compassion? What if we realised that our bodies are on our side and are desperately trying to let us know that something about our lifestyle (work, diet, relationships etc.) isn’t ok and is stressing us out to the point where something needs to change (often our attitude!) … would that make the symptoms easier to deal with?

When I was sick, I felt scared and powerless because I didn’t know what was going on and neither did my doctors. I suffered from stomach pains and was convinced I was seriously ill, but was told that there was nothing wrong. I was “At My Wit’s End” and realised that the only person who could help me … was me.

Forty years ago, my doctor in Germany, where I was living at the time, told me that I was stupid to think that anger, frustration and stress could cause stomach pains. There was no connection. But I knew they did. So, I started searching.

As I did more research, I was introduced to the idea of unexpressed and unresolved emotions being the cause of physical symptoms. That blew my mind! But since studying Chinese Medicine (3,000 years’ worth of wisdom!) and the effects of Flower Remedies, I now believe that our emotions are the basis of many illnesses. By not expressing our emotions in a healthy fashion, we become walking pressure cookers, which eventually explode.

Armed with this information, I no longer felt the need to hand all my power and decision making about my health over to my doctor, but realised that I only get one body per lifetime and so had better try harder to make our relationship a harmonious one.

It’s not an easy journey and it doesn’t all happen overnight but my body and I have now agreed a truce. It lets me know when stuff is going on around us which doesn’t suit us and the moment my stomach twinges, I now stop dead in my tracks and listen, asking myself, “What just happened? Did someone say something or do something unacceptable? Did I have a worrying thought that I don’t know how to deal with? Am I having mental arguments which I’m not able to resolve in my head? etc. etc. And then I wait quietly and listen. My body’s wisdom, or my intuition, let’s me know what the problem is, usually with a thought that enters my mind. Once my body has communicated the issue to me and knows that it has been heard, it stops needing to get my attention and so stops causing the pain.

I’m learning to be grateful for these twinges, accepting that my body and I have the same intention … to be healthy and to live life feeling well for as long as possible.

That is the gift I have seen in illness. What might your symptoms be trying to tell you and how is your body communicating them to you? Might reframing your thoughts and looking for the gift in your symptoms be the start of your empowered healing journey?

Let’s get you back to Living Life Feeling Well.

This article forms part of the series (At My) Wit’s End Wisdom.

What Causes Disease?

The Gift Of Illness